The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to aircraft diagnostics and prognostics. More particularly, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to virtual monitoring of aircraft fleet loads.
Aircraft have a large number of structural components that are subject to intense structural usage. These components are often expensive to replace. Conventional structural health management policies replace components after a fixed number of flight hours on a given aircraft, regardless of the actual structural usage of the components on the given aircraft. Since the structural components may have a measurable and predictable life cycle, prediction of component deterioration so as to anticipate a potential failure facilitates prolonged operations. Early detection of potential failures or fractures within a structural component provides the ability to perform preventative maintenance and avoid potential component failure.
Manual inspection is one method of monitoring the health of structural components. Some aircrafts incorporate Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (“HUMS”) to monitor the health of critical components and collect operational flight data utilizing on-board sensors and avionic systems. HUMS can create large volumes of data, which may vary in frequency and duration depending on the components monitored.